Method of repairing a rail joint in track



Feb. 11, 1936. LANGFQRD 2,030,704

' METHOD OF REPAIRING A RAIL JOINT IN TRACK Filed March 5', 1934 4290;96 la /gyfarci Patented Feb. 11, 1936 UNITED STATES METHOD or REPAIRING mac George Langford, Joliet, Ill., assignor to McKenna Process Company of Illinois,Joliet, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application March 5, 2 Claims.

The present invention pertains to rail joints and more particularly is a method whereby a worn and defective rail joint may be repaired so as to remove the defectiveness. f

It is well known to users of, rail joints that when a worn joint has become low, it makes rough-riding track and the trouble should be remedied. There are various methods in the prior art-whereby worn low jointsare repaired.

Thosein common use are directed mainly to a repair of the wearing parts of the joint and not to the remedying of any structural defect that might be contained therein. This necessitates the addition of metal to worn parts of the bars or rail ends or both. The present method is directed primarily to the repair of a low joint, not by the addition, but by the removal of metal from thebar which in itself restores a low joint to nearer its original level. It applies particular- 1y to joints not badly worn and is restricted to bars of the angle type whose outwardly extended foot portions make the bottom member, considerabiiy wider than the top member. Those Iamiliarwith the art will gain a full understanding of the present method from the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a worn rail joint, with the tops of the rail ends removed.

Fig. 2 is a partial end view of a worn, low rail joint.

Fig. 3 is a side view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a central transverse sectional view of a bar produced by the method of my invention;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, taken through the upper portion of the bar, showing how metal is welded to the head of the bar.

The present invention is a method of repairing low rail joints in a track, and applies only to the angle type of bars with outwardly extended bottom portion.

As is well known, the wear in a joint is greatest at its top central portion, and there is comparatively little wear at its ends. Take-up space is provided between the rail ends and the joint bars, and as wear in the joint progresses, the center portion of the bar is drawn inward by center bolt tension until the inclined fishing surfaces of the bars and the rail ends are brought into contact.

This inward movement of the center portion of the bar is a longitudinal bending action, whereby viewed from above, the outer face of the bu becomes longitudinally concave. This is shown in Fig. 1, a worn rail joint viewed from above, the rail heads being removed. joint bars shown bowed in at center. 3 and l are i and 2-are the 1934, Serial No. 17l3,964

the rail ends. If nottoo rigid laterally bars ordinarily become shaped in this manner to take up central wear in the joint. 1

- In an angle bar there is a second bowing or central bending action. It is known to the art but its damaging efiects do not seem to be clearly understood. This is shownin Fig. 2which is a partial end view. of a worn joint. A bar I is fitted to a rail 3. The joint is low and has worn so that its central portion has moved to the rails in the amount 1. r 1

Due to its comparatively great width the bottom member 6 is more resistant to horizontal inbending than is the comparatively narrow top member, and the center portion of the bar while bending horizontally inward as per arrow 8, also bends downward,the result being, an oblique bending as per arrow 9. The bottom fishing surface l0 bears upon the corresponding surface of the rail ends at center, and pushes the rail ends .2

downward, the force which does this, being center bolt'tension. Ifthe bolts are loosened and the worn bars removed, the rail ends rise, except in the case of very soft bars which have no springiness in them. The ordinary heat treated bar will resume, for the most part, its original shape, when the cause of deformation is removed.

This oblique deflection of an angle bar in a rail joint is merely an application of. an old mechanical'principle. In the case of the rail joint of Fig. 2, the deflecting force may be horizontal as at 8, nevertheless the bar deflects obliquely downward as at 9. This force impelled by center bolt tension, is suflicient to push the rail ends down, and the joint is low. Although such a condition necessitates some wear in the joint, the ill effects are the result of oblique deflection more than wear itself. The rail ends droop and will ever tend to do so if angle bars are used. For its purpose and to fulfill the conditions imposed upon it, the angle form of bar is about the worst that could have been designed. This downwardly directed deflection of a bar at center which makes drooped rail ends, is shown side View in Fig. 3. This view may not be accurate but it illustrates correctly the downward deflection of the center of the bar which causes the rail ends to droop. I

As a low joint is one of the worst, faults in a track, and as all angle bars which because of. their downward bending. action, make all joints low, it is apparent that something should be done of a corrective nature.

Fig. 4 represents an end sectional view of a modified angle bar whose outwardly extended bottom portion has been removed so that it becomes an I-beam type of bar, shown shaded. The bottom member being much reduced in width yields much more readily than before to center bolt tension, and instead of bending downward as it bends inward, it bends more horizontally as per arrow 8; and it may even be made to bend slightly upward by leaving more metal in the top member than in the bottom member. The angle type of bar might be scrapped and the I-beam type of bar used to replace it, but this would be costly. A repair of the low joint may be made by repairing the bar. This could be done in track without removing the vbars from the joint by cutting ofi the bottom outer extended portion throughout its length on the line H. A simple means for doing this would be a cutting torch. To avoid damaging the rail flange beneath, the bottom part of the bar might be out only part way through and then broken off. The drooped rail ends will rise when downward deflecting force is removed. If taken soon enough, there would be no need of further repair. If. the joint has been allowed to become very bad, some top rail head" welding or further repair by way of adding metal to the worn parts of the bar, as at 5 in Figure 5, may be necessary. However not an addition of metal but the removal of the outwardly extended metal of the angle bar so as to change its wearing deflection at center from obliquely downward to horizontal or slightly upward deflection is "the main consideration. The rail ends pulled down by the deflecting angle bar will rise when the angle bar is repaired to an I- beam form and the essential repair of the low joint will have been made. One great advantage in this method is that it removes a fundamental defect. In'the prior art, the repair of a rail joint which uses angle bars continues the fundamental defect. The joint may be restored completely but as soon as "wear begins, the angle bars bend inward and downward and make the joint low as before.

I do not claim that all angle bars are well adapted to this method. Some of them are too light in the bottom member to warrant cutting off more metal. Other long-used bars originally.

ble, but from an economic viewpoint'it becomes 1 a serious matter because'oi' its vast extent. The

angle bar as a part of a joint structure is fundamentally defective. As wear begins, it pulls the rail ends down and makes the joint low, the most objectionable feature in, a. rail Joint.

would be a large undertaking, but it can be done gradually. Many angle bars can be repaired as described, thereby repairing the joints, and performing for the rest of their lives some useful] service.

What I claim is:

1. The method of repairing in track a rail Joint comprising angle bars having bottom rail fishing contacting members of considerable width eifective to produce on the rail ends of the joint 9. downward component of thrust when the bars are drawn in to the rail ends by bolt tension, which method comprises cutting off lengthwise of the bars the outer portion of said bottom members inamount at least sufficient to eliminate said downward component of thrust present in said bars in their original condition, and-then con-. tinuing the use ofsaid barsin the joint without further alteration of. saidbars.

2. The method of claim 1, in which metal is welded onto the top central portion of'the bars.

GEORGE LANGFORD.

The total extermination of the angle bar menace 

